Projects & Impact

AHP has built its business on applying best practices, many of which we have helped to shape, and real-world, hands-on knowledge to improving systems and business practices for our clients.

In all of the work that we do, we are guided by our mission to improve health and human services systems of care and business operations to help organizations and individuals reach their full potential.

Search

Search Projects by Category

Select items in one or more of four categories to find relevant project types:

Something went wrong please try again later.

AHP is the evaluator for a Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services (BSAS) grant to expand medical and behavioral health service systems capacity to engage and retain pregnant and postpartum women in integrated medication assisted treatment (MAT) and health care, and addiction and recovery support services. Funded through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) targeted capacity expansion portfolio, The Moms Do Care Project is being implemented in two communities (one rural and one urban) and focuses on the specific needs of pregnant women with opioid use disorders. Its overarching objective is to provide recovering mothers with increased access to MAT and with individualized services that support sustained recovery, choices about continuing medication, and efforts to maintain custody or contact with their children.

Expected outcomes include increased access and engagement in MAT concurrent with pre-and post-natal care; reduced illicit drug use; and improved health, recovery, and functioning status at the individual level. Systems level outcomes include an increased number of waivered buprenorphine prescribers; increased workforce understanding of opioid dependency in women specific to the needs of pregnant women; reduced negative attitudes of this population among medical providers; and improved integration of primary care and behavioral health services. AHP will assess outcomes through client interviews at three points in time, administrative treatment data, surveys of medical providers, and onsite visits with a range of key informants.

Impact:
The evaluation should provide critical information on implementing this type of complex intervention, as well as its impact at the client and system levels. As a new approach to engaging and serving a population of pregnant opioid-using women, the evaluation findings will help shape program development over time and help determine which components are most promising for which types of women.

The WCF project supported SAMHSA’s advancement of state-of-the-art knowledge around substance use and mental health needs of women and families through supporting leaders, workforce development efforts, product development, and expert consultation. The project utilized a multipronged approach to increase the field’s capability for meeting the needs of women, adolescent girls, and families across the nation, which included working with policy makers, providers, and leaders committed to improving women’s services throughout the nation.

AHP also provided expert consultation on gender-responsive prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery support services for adolescent girls, pregnant women, and families with children.

AHP provided training and technical assistance through the WCF project from 2008 to 2018. AHP provided subject matter expertise and consultation to SAMHSA, NASADAD, states and community groups on effective interventions, treatment and recovery support for women and families.

Key project components included:

National conferences

Webinars, trainings, and online courses

Research; internal and external reports

Expert panels

Support for the National Association of State Alcohol/Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD)/Women’s Services Network

Creating the Women’s Addiction Services Leadership Institute (WASLI) and administering it six times. WASLI was a competitive, application-based, 6-month leadership program. A total of 112 associates and 56 coaches participated over the six cohorts, with a 100 percent graduation rate. Evaluations from the final WASLI class showed 100 percent of associates felt WASLI had a large impact on their leadership skills; 70 percent had increased workplace responsibility since WASLI, which is particularly notable considering this WASLI class had just graduated when they took the survey.